Moments of Lucidity
by Lone Warrior2
Summary: I know I'm crazy.  Even in my most sane moments I realize I'm a dangerous person.  Though every moment I ever committed a crime I could blame on the delusions of a mad man.  This was not one of those moments.  One-shot Based on a fan art by DarkPenguin.


Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck or any of the characters, I just like to play with them.

Author's Note: I cannot take all the credit for this work. This fan fiction was inspired by a piece of fan art called "Dirty Hands" drawn by DarkPenguin. The last moment of the fan fic is the moment the picture takes place. The artist approved of the fic so I hope you like it just as much, and please make sure to view the picture before and/or after reading the fic.

Further Author's note: This note can be read now or disregarded until after you read the fic. I merely want to share something before I'm questioned about it. In this fic I have Megavolt go through a short-out, something that happens to him frequently in the show. I want to address this before I'm told, "this isn't cannon, he doesn't remember who he is every time he shorts out." I know that, I'm saying it rarely happens at all but it only happens when he shorts out. Seeing as he avoids shorting out it would happen even less frequently. Usually, even when he does short-out, his memory and thought isn't triggered, but it can happen and only happens because of a short-out.

There, sorry if that got a bit long winded, but I want to avoid any confusion. Anyway, enjoy the fic ^^.

Moments of Lucidity

_These moments happen at the most inopportune times. It's true that I'm a crazed lunatic, even when I'm in these times of sanity I can admit that. But sometimes I realize what I'm doing, I feel the pain, the remorse, the guilt. This was one of those moments._

I groped along the bed stand for the vibrating object. I blinked in the darkness at the blue light from my cell phone. The number was not one I recognized but given the few people I socialize with it was rare for any of us to keep the same number for long. There was a moment I thought about ignoring the call and going back to sleep; a glance at the digital clock showed I'd only been sleeping for an hour.

As I pushed the button to answer the phone I closed my eyes and rolled on my back stretching out my right arm and legs. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" I groggily asked the phone.

"No, I don't. Please, Megavolt, enlighten me. What time is it?" A dark voice returned.

I sat up in bed awake. "Negaduck? Why would you be calling me in the middle of the night?"

"I asked you a question Megavolt."

I looked at the clock again, "2:41 in the morning."

"The night is still young. Now get dressed and meet me at the bridge. And Megavolt, if you're not there when I get there my chainsaw is going to find its way across your throat." The phone clicked off.

I held the phone up to my face and glared at it, I knew I should have ignored it.

At the bridge I stared at the water below. It was getting close to 3:15. I found a rock on the ground and threw it into the abyss below. I knew I wouldn't hear the splash, I was too high up, but I didn't expect the whir of a chainsaw.

I jumped so high I was surprised I didn't fall into the river. "Fuck! What is it with you and that thing anyway?" I turned to face Negaduck and his favorite weapon.

"I could never leave her out of the fun, she's the only girl who's ever understood me." He gazed at "her" with more love than I thought Negaduck capable of and patted "her" side. "Now stop throwing rocks and follow me."

I put my hands in my pockets and asked, "Where are we going?"

He ignored me and continued his gait.

I muttered to the streetlights we passed, "Quite the chatterbox tonight, isn't he?"

We continued walking until we arrived at a park. In the center there was a fountain; I tend to note all bodies of water around me, it's an understandable phobia. Negaduck stood next the fountain; that didn't make me comfortable.

"C-can we stand a little further from the fountain?" I pleaded a little.

He turned around and with his eyes in the shadow of his hat returned, "Why? Scared I'll push you in?"

"Of course not," Best not to anger him or show any fear, "I just like this lamp post better." I nervously scratched my bandana clad head. (Thank light bulbs I got rid of that dumb plug, it caused too many problems.)

He jumped and his boots landed on the rim of the fountain. Still looking at me in that sinister way from behind his dark mask and red hat he explained as a kidnapper would to a child, "I've got something to show you."

Still not trusting him I obeyed reluctantly. There were plenty of lights around, I was sure they'd step in if he really threatened me. I tread to the fountain while he watched every step, it was kind of creepy. When I got there I faced him and rose my arms with a little shrug, "Now what?"

Negaduck smirked and lifted his chainsaw with his left hand. I watched the object glide across my vision and completely missed his right hand deck me across the side of the head.

I fell directly into the pool of the fountain and screamed as the water caused my statically charged fur and electrical accessories to short out. The shock was painful and a seizure racked my entire body. Before I lost consciousness I saw Negaduck watching me with sadistic pleasure writ across his face.

I came too only a few moments later. Negaduck hadn't bothered to remove me from the park fountain; he sat on a bench not far away picking something out of his chainsaw's teeth. It looked like stained red cloth, I felt it best not to contemplate it.

He noticed my return to the land of the waking and stated, "Don't like to get wet Sparky?"

I stood up in the fountain soaking wet, "Don't you know I hate it when people call me Sparky? My name is Elmo!" The words escaped my mouth before I realized it, I'd remembered my name.

"Elmo? That's a stupid name. I can't believe I'm saying this but I think Megavolt is an improvement. Now quit swimming and follow me."

A fat lot of good that had done me so far that night, but I still knew who I was dealing with so I climbed out of the pool, shook the excess water off my boots, and squelched my way behind the chainsaw wielding maniac.

The journey was not far, only down a path in the park. Along the way I'd been remembering my life; who I was, how I'd obtained my powers, the people who hurt me, but the worst was all the horrible things I'd done. Since being granted the ability to control electric current I'd stolen so much of other peoples' money, I'd reigned havoc on so many lives, but worst of all I'd taken lives. I killed people for little more than using light bulbs. What had I done?

But was any of it really my fault? All of those acts I'd committed while I was insane. I had never hurt anyone while I was thinking straight. Those were the acts of Megavolt, not Elmo Sputterspark.

Come to think of it, this wasn't my first time being lucid. The shock from that doorknob hadn't destroyed the section of my brain that allowed clear thinking, only caused it to dim and flicker. Elmo Sputterspark was still in the mind of Megavolt but he only came out on rare occasions when he shorted out, like now.

Being so engulfed in my newly acquired ability of thought, I nearly bumped into Negaduck. He reached an arm around me and pointed at a couple sitting on a park bench. They looked a lot like Ham String and Prina Lot. The pair of teenagers who'd done the most damage to me in high school.

"What's so special about them?" I asked him.

"Nothing, they're the first people I found since I shorted out your powers."

"What did you do that for anyway? It's going to take me hours to dry off and use electricity again."

"Exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "I thought it would be more fun to see you do what I told you without your powers."

I face-palmed. "Well I'd rather not hit them, they look just like the bullies who turned me into a freak."

This admission didn't deter Negaduck whatsoever. His grin only grew and I could hear a deep, slow, maniacal laugh release from his beak. He returned his arms around my neck and draped himself across my back. "Sparky, Don't tell me you're going to pass up on this opportunity for revenge."

"Well, I… but… how can I be sure it's even them?"

"Who cares? If it isn't, then it'll at least feel like you're getting back at them."

I could see no way out of this. Well, maybe he didn't really want to hurt them, just traumatize them a bit. As far as I knew, Negaduck had never actually killed anyone, …right?

Negaduck had no problem sneaking up on them in the shadows. Even more so than his positive counterpart he was "the terror that flaps in the night." I was not one for sneaking but luckily the pair was too caught up in each other to notice me.

It was disgusting. The pig had his hands up her shirt and she kissed his neck like she was lapping up bacon grease. Why did a woman like Prina debase herself hanging out with this idiotic slime ball anyway?

The masked duck handed me a cloth and a length of rope then he pointed to the girl. Apparently my job was to tie her up. Their antics were growing more retched by the second, I was actually a little glad Negaduck's plan was to stop their love fest.

He held his chainsaw above Ham String and with a malicious grin slammed the heavy device into the back of his head. The jar had alarmed the girl but I stuffed the wad of cloth into her mouth before she could scream. Negaduck was quick and after knocking out the first victim he did the same to Prina in a similar fashion.

With both victims out of commission Negaduck directed me to tie them up and drag them to a lodge in the park. It was a little surreal. The lodge was located next to a playground; a place families and friends would go to have a picnic.

Our victims were tied to a bench side by side. They were an arm's length apart, close enough to touch if their hands weren't bound. Negaduck, sick of waiting for his pray to wake on their own, leaped up on the bench and stamped a booted foot hard on Ham's hand. He grunted in pain and slowly opened his eyes.

When the pig regained consciousness he squinted in disbelief. "Darkwing Duck?"

The mistake was an easy one to make. We'd left all the lights off so the only illumination was the moon and except for the colors of their costumes Darkwing and Negaduck were identical. Negaduck didn't seem put off by the misrepresentation either, he just laughed as though highly amused.

I was getting tired of this so I pointed out to Negaduck, "OK, we've got them here. What do we do with them now?"

Negaduck stopped mid-chortle and stood in front of me. By now I should have seen it coming but he still caught me off-guard with a punch to the side of my head. I tumbled to the ground and lay dazed on the floor. He was quick upon me. Grabbing my jacket collar and straddling my chest he used his other hand to tilt my chin with his chainsaw. He whispered into my ear, "We're here to get your revenge." Then he got off me and dropped the chainsaw in my lap.

I stayed sitting on the ground with the machine resting on my upper thighs and gulped. He couldn't possibly mean for me to use this for a random killing. "But you shorted out my powers. I can't attack them."

"I just gave you a weapon. You don't need super powers to kill people you idiot."

I stood up but even that had been a battle. My legs had turned to jell-o and my insides were hollow. Had Negaduck been planning this all along? Had he known I would return to Elmo Sputterspark with that short-out? Was it his plan to traumatize me with this act? The thoughts of the lengths to Negaduck's sadistic madness plagued my mind.

Though, he'd been surprised when I mentioned my true name; and he only happened upon this particular couple in the park. It was all just coincidence these factors had occurred but I doubted Negaduck would be displeased to know how much inner turmoil he was putting me through.

Ham suddenly seemed to realize the danger he was in and offered, "Hey if it's money you guys are after just let me go and I'll give you all you want."

Negaduck chuckled and directed the question at me, "What do you think Elmo? Is it money you want?"

Ham squinted at me and made my name a question, "Elmo? You can't mean that dork from high school."

When he'd called me that insult my stomach clenched with anger.

Negaduck pulled my arm and forced my face next to Ham's, then he removed my goggles. My first reaction was to reel back and cover my face with my hand but it had been too late. Ham received the full realization that the man with a chainsaw in his hand was none other than the victim of all his bullying.

Finding out I was truly Elmo Sputterspark he'd completely forgotten that I was now Megavolt. Ham String called to Prina with laughter in his voice, "Wake up Prina, guess who thought he'd try to play heroes and villains with us, it's little Elmo."

Prina stirred and looked around until she blinked at Ham and asked, "What? What's going on?"

He tilted his head in my direction and said again, "Elmo Sputterspark, you remember that dweeb from high school?"

She giggled a little, "Oh that little runt? What happened to him?"

"He's playing dress up with Darkwing Duck. I guess he's trying to get back at us for the harmless fun we had when we were teenagers. It almost worked too, he does kinda look like that criminal Megavolt in the dark." He looked back at me and threatened. "You know kidnapping is crime a Elmo, I'll report you to the police and you'll go to jail for this. But I guess if you untie us right now I'll think about letting this whole thing go."

His whole conversation with Prina only caused that spark of anger to grow in voltage until my blood coursed with it.

"Y'know what's funny Ham? How people never seem to change." I clutched the chainsaw a little tighter and rode the anger until that jell-o in my legs solidified and my insides weren't just hollow, they were void. "Is it really so impossible to believe that poor little boy you'd picked on and tormented could grow up to be a killer?"

Ham String had to think about it for a moment. He was faltering in his resolve that Elmo Sputterspark couldn't have turned into an infamous villain. "But Megavolt is completely insane, you haven't been acting twitchy and aloof like someone who's lost their mind.

Veronica chimed in, "Plus Megavolt controls electricity and you haven't even fired off a spark yet."

"It doesn't matter!" I yelled at them.

The pair cringed in their seats.

"I am Elmo Sputterspark but I am also Megavolt. And you two are the ones who turned me into this monster. When you tied me to that treadmill you forced a lethal static charge into my body and it expelled on a doorknob. If it weren't for you imbeciles maybe I would have normal life right now. Maybe I wouldn't be trapped in this mind that only returns to me for short flickers of my consciousness." I revved the chainsaw. When the chainsaw came to life I could feel the energy in it's engine and I felt alive. The saw was gas powered but I still held an instrument of destruction in my hands. Was this the feeling Negaduck had when he revved the motor? Megavolt was crazy but Negaduck was just sick, could I be just as sick?

I lifted the chainsaw above my head and with the teeth whirring and spinning I slammed it into the shoulder of Ham String. Three screams filled that room, his wale of pain, my howl of rage, and her cry of terror. And lost within those screams a lone figure chuckled over his victory.

The feeling was surprising. After the initial moment when the tearing began in his flesh it was sort of difficult to hold on to chainsaw as it continued it's path through the meat and bones. I thought it would be caught in the cloth a couple of times. I didn't feel the need to stop ripping muscle and tendon until well after I'd cut through the ventricles to his heart. He was dead and I had killed him.

I stopped the machine but it was still caught in his flesh. I lifted a boot into his enormous gut and pulled until the meat-covered blade slid out of the body with a squelch and a final snap as it broke the last of his ribs.

Prina's eyes were wide with fear. She was just as soaked in the blood of her lover as I was but it didn't seem to thrill her like it did me. I walked closer to her leaving a couple bloody footprints on the ground. With a bloody glove I held her face next to mine, "Was it worth it? Were the harmless little games you had as a child, hurting a defenseless kid, worth dying for?" I stood back up and turned my back to her.

Tears streamed down her face and she begged, "Please! I'm sorry! I didn't know! It was our fault. Please, let me go! Forgive me!"

She whimpered as my tail whipped around her neck and with an easy jerk I snapped it. "Too late."

I dropped the chainsaw and trembled over what I'd just done. Sure, I'd killed before, but all those times I was lost in the delusions of an insane person. I'd never been driven to such violence when I was truly thinking. All those times before I could blame the crime on Megavolt but this time Megavolt wasn't here. It was just Elmo Sputterspark, a chainsaw, and his victims.

Negaduck's boots clunked against the ground until he stood next to me with a grin on his beak. He handed the goggles back to me. I put my mask back on my face. Then I fell to my knees holding my shaking, blood soaked hands up to my face.

The black cloaked killer placed a gloved hand on my shoulder and used his other hand to tilt his hat which had been splattered with my victim's blood in the carnage.

He didn't say anything but I knew what he was asking. "Did it feel good?"

And even though I didn't say anything in response, I could tell he knew my answer. "Yes."

So even in my moments of lucidity, could I really be as sick as him? I don't think I have to say anything to know the answer to that.


End file.
